The following description relates to optical pulse compression in chirped pulse laser systems.
Chirped pulse laser systems, such as chirped pulse amplifiers (CPA), amplify short duration laser pulses by stretching a short duration optical pulse, amplifying the stretched optical pulse, and compressing the amplified optical pulse. Optical pulse compression in CPAs is typically performed by diffraction gratings, and the surfaces of these diffraction gratings may deteriorate due to the high field intensity of the compressed amplified optical pulse incident upon the diffraction gratings.